Drove the Stingray and Viper on track -- Viper had a great view...
 

...a permanent view that is -- of the Stingray's rear end!


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7354/1...9d79840f_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7338/1...fe7f103a_b.jpg


As an Autobahn member I was able to partake in driving many of the different manufacturers new models on track this past week. The Stingray was the only car there that was driven continuously (morning from 9am-12 and afternoon 1:00-3:30pm) by the Press and clearly still quite the novel car.

As new owners are reporting, the hype is for good reason as the handling and comfort match the great looks. The most frequent comment I heard was how easy the Stingray was to drive -- from both men and women writers.

Truth be told I've driven most high end cars on this track and knew the Corvette would be the better performer having driven it on the street dating a few months back now. There's a reason you don't see Vipers being tracked too often (and yes I think they look cool) they are not confident inspiring like the Corvette/Stingray is. The Viper has an updated interior but IMO it still looks like it's from 20 years ago.

Question -- The Viper had a factory optional $14,600K candy apple-like paint job. How many here would order such an option?


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I suspect a horde of repetitive positive reviews from new owners as deliveries increase.

One other fantastic feature of the 7-speed is the self adjusting redline -- as the car brings it's fluids to temp, the redline increases so there should be no excuse for getting on the car hard before it's ready. (There's already been a video posted in this section showing such abuse).



Mike

Love that Laguna Blue!

So that settles it and we are all now in 100% agreement :rock: :rock: :rock:
:party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party:

Oh dear, Big Dan ain't gonna like this.........:rofl:

Yeah, he will say this guy is an idiot, or make some excuse. The whole world is on the same page with the Viper. The fact it doesnt sell is supporting that argument, but Ralph and Big Dan disagree.

So just a quick question Mike, you're saying the 460hp C7 will stay ahead of the 640hp Viper on the track?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that is an utterly false statement! Your applauding of the C7 is fine, but making false statements devalues your commentary.

Any track, any day the Viper would waste the C7, based on your self proclaimed history of driving "most high end cars" you would know this. And this is not a slight against the C7, it should lose to the Viper and it would.

spinning is winning lol

Vette fan a long time yet the viper is quicker on the track.....maybe not the driver this day but that's a different story...

Price increase has a lot to do with vipers limited sales...

As dealers were gouging big time and it's now blown up in their faces big time...

Problem is. More often or not.. the driver IS the story. And is the main factor deciding how fast a car is or isn't.

I come from the sportbike world, where even the slowest $6000 600cc motorcycle straight off the dealer showroom floor is still able to accelerate quicker than a Bugatti Veyron in performance tests like the 1/4 mile. As a person who has spent many weekends at the road racing tracks (the tracks with corners) up & down the East Coast.. one of the first things we warn novice & amatuer riders about is how having too much power can and will make you slower. Especially around a racetrack.

We highly recommend anybody bringing a sportbike to track.. start off on a 600cc bike first, before they bring try their hands at the much more powerful 1000cc sportbikes. While the more powerful bike may be theoretically capable of lapping a given racetrack faster, it is definitely more intimidating to operate and will absolutely require much more expertise as it is pushed to the limit.

I have no doubt the same applies to the car world. The less power one has, the easier it is to push that car to the limit. And of course the opposite would also be true, the more power one has the harder it is to push that car to its limit. So while the Viper may have 180 more HP than the Stingray.. that doesn't mean the average driver off the street can just hop into a 2013 Viper and suddenly drive it faster around any given racetrack. What it does mean is that the Viper will be much more to handle on a racetrack and ANY driver, of ANY experience level, is more likely to wreck the Viper on a racetrack.

If a professional racecar driver like Randy Pobst says that the Viper is a lot power for even him to handle & is simply not as easy to drive as fast as the Corvette. I would definitely heed his warning, before hopping in a $100K Viper and thinking there is some magic button I can push to make me supremely control 640hp pushed to the absolute limit.

I've posted this before, go directly to 2:45 and tell me what Randy says about control and ability.

While I have not driven either I'm going to go out on a limb based upon quite a few track articles I've seen on both.

I have no doubt that by an expert race driver the Viper would be faster. But in a club event there are a lot of good drivers who are not great drivers. I road raced motorcycles competitively and saw it all the time. In the hands of the typical track day driver, but not race car driver, the car that is easier to drive and more forgiving will outrun other novices in a car that may be faster but is not as easy to drive or forgiving.

OK, that's just cool. The more tech and features people keep mentioning on here, the more I want to make "a C7 in my garage" happen. :cool:

JSCHINDLER thanks for your intelligent and sensible post. I totally appreciate and agree with where you are coming from, the one place I'd counter you is that the Viper is really not as bad now as it once was and frankly the older cars earned a rep that was slightly exaggerated. I too have owned sport bikes and also own a 1974 Kawi drag bike, my friend who races a pro mod bike can easily get at least a half a second more out of it than I could, of course he is 75lbs. lighter than I but I'm speaking of his ability being so much better.

When I defend and speak of the Viper it's due to my long time experience behind the wheel, this is not to say I am a guru I just have many years of ownership under my belt.
Like anything you get use to something, your comment about club racing is true but if you put enough time in to anything IMO you will become comfortable. Just a tidbit, I actually felt more at ease with my 2009 ACR than I did in my 2011 GT3RS. Yes you could throw the RS around and get the result you expect but the grip the ACR privided and the feedback was just as good if not better. JMO...thanks for your post!

So according to the comments in here, if one wanted to make the C7 equally slow in the hands of casual enthusiasts as the Viper, it needs heads / cam / tune / intake / headers / exhaust.
That way it would probably make close to 600 at the crank and as a result would be a lot slower.
Makes perfect sense...

A musical analogy:

The 2014 Stingray:

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Bio/NYPO.jpeg

The 2014 Viper:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/i...52_352x470.jpg

BS...if the viper lost on a track to the base "7" then it needs a serious driver mod..just sayin..story is BS..I'm a "7" fan FWIW

Quit posting 4 yr old reviews....look at what Randy says now about the ZR1 vs the Viper....clearly not an apples to oranges comparison of comments...current ZR1 to current Viper, Randy is a much bigger ZR1 fan...:thumbs:

IN fact, in the last '13 vs '13 comparison, which the ZR1 won outright, look at what he said among other things:
"As Randy Pobst pointed out, “The Viper’s got more understeer and more oversteer than the Corvette.” :cool:

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...#ixzz2grekSRZQ

Today, the Viper just aint' making it. Get over it. "Next":yesnod:

And previously you asked why my last post about tanking Viper sales was in the C7 forum? This is exactly why...I got tired of the Viper droolers..:crazy2:

does that license plate say VPR EATR ?? LOL

So Wayne you can cut some slack to what was then the all new ZR1 in 2009 yet not cut any to a non production Viper, sounds like you do not think fairly! And in fact when Randy ran the TA he was gaga over it and from what I remember stated that if it had CCB's and cup tires it would be even better! And btw, do youreally think I care what Randy is a fan of? LMAO...comical!

The Viper may not be making in it sales but I'd take one over a ZR1 everyday of the week, as a matter of fact I might just buy and post some pics for ya!

vipers=:ack: